Current:Home > MarketsPuerto Rico’s famous stray cats will be removed from grounds surrounding historic fortress-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
Puerto Rico’s famous stray cats will be removed from grounds surrounding historic fortress
View Date:2024-12-23 23:41:35
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hundreds of stray cats that roam a historic seaside tourist area of Puerto Rico’s capital where they are considered both a delight and a nuisance will be removed over the coming year, under a plan unveiled Tuesday by the U.S. National Park Service.
The agency said it will contract an animal welfare organization to remove the 200 cats estimated to live on 75 acres surrounding a fortress at the San Juan National Historic Site that the federal agency operates in Old San Juan. If the organization fails to remove the cats within six months, the park service said it would hire a removal agency.
Cat lovers responded to the plan with dismay, but the agency noted that the felines can transmit illnesses to humans. “All visitors will benefit from the removal of a potential disease vector from the park,” the park service plan stated.
The six-month timetable to remove the cats is unrealistic, said Ana María Salicrup, secretary of the board of directors for the nonprofit group Save a Gato, which currently helps care for the cats and which hopes to be chosen to implement the plan.
“Anyone who has worked with cats knows that is impossible,” Salicrup said. “They are setting us up for failure.”
Cats of all sizes, colors and temperaments meander the seaside trails that surround a 16th-century fortress known as “El Morro” overlooking an expanse of deep turquoise waters in the northwestern point of the San Juan capital.
Some are believed to be descendants of colonial-era cats, while others were brought to the capital by legendary San Juan Mayor Felisa Rincón de Gautier to kill rats in the mid-20th century. Since then, they have multiplied into the hundreds to the enchantment of some residents and tourists, and the disgust of others.
Visitors can be seen snapping pictures of cats daily as residents and volunteers with Save a Gato tend to them. The group feeds, spays and neuters cats, and places them into adoption.
About two years ago, federal officials said the cat population had grown too much and that the “encounters between visitors and cats and the smell of urine and feces are … inconsistent with the cultural landscape.”
Last year, the U.S. National Park Service held a hearing as part of a plan it said would improve the safety of visitors and employees and protect cultural and natural resources. It offered two options: remove the cats or keep the status quo.
Those who attended overwhelmingly rejected the first option, with one man describing the cats as “one of the wonders of Old San Juan.” The cats even have their own statue in the historic area where they roam.
“These cats are unique to San Juan,” Danna Wakefield, a solar contractor who moved to Puerto Rico in 2020, said in an interview. She visits the cats weekly. “Me and many other people love that walk because of the cats. Otherwise, it would be a very boring walk.”
She has three favorite cats, including a black one with golden eyes that she nicknamed “Cross.”
“He won’t have anything to do with anybody,” Wakefield said with a laugh.
The U.S. Park Service plan unveiled Tuesday calls for current cat feeding stations to be removed unless they’re being used temporarily to help trap the felines. It noted that unauthorized feeding of the cats is prohibited, that it attracts rats and encourages people seeking to abandon their cats to do so in that area, knowing they’ll be fed.
The agency plan says the animal welfare organization that’s selected will be tasked with deciding whether the trapped cats will be adopted, placed in a foster home, kept in a shelter or face other options.
Salicrup said it’s difficult to find homes for so many cats, and that Save a Gato has reached out to many sanctuaries in the U.S. mainland. “The response always is, ‘You cannot bring 100 cats here,’” she said.
The National Park Service noted that the six-month deadline to trap cats could be extended if it sees substantial progress. If not, the agency would terminate the current plan and hire a removal agency.
veryGood! (47)
Related
- Advocacy group sues Tennessee over racial requirements for medical boards
- Latest climate pledges could limit global temperature rise, a new report says
- For Brianna Fruean, the smell of mud drives home the need for climate action
- For World Health Day 2023, Shop These 17 Ways to Enhance Your Self Care Routine
- NFL Week 11 picks straight up and against spread: Will Bills hand Chiefs first loss of season?
- You Know You Want to Check Out Our Ranking of the OG Gossip Girl Couples, XOXO
- These researchers are trying to stop misinformation from derailing climate progress
- Giving up gas-powered cars was a fringe idea. It's now on its way to reality
- Is the stock market open on Veterans Day? What to know ahead of the federal holiday
- Khloe Kardashian, Gwyneth Paltrow and More Stars Who Gave Their Kids Unique Names
Ranking
- Kid Rock tells fellow Trump supporters 'most of our left-leaning friends are good people'
- Israel ends deadly raid in West Bank Palestinian refugee camp, but warns it won't be a one-off
- Israel ends deadly raid in West Bank Palestinian refugee camp, but warns it won't be a one-off
- Fire kills 6 at Italian retirement home in Milan
- Panel advises Illinois commemorate its role in helping slaves escape the South
- Palestinians flee Israel's raid on West Bank refugee camp as several hurt in Tel Aviv car attack
- The U.N. chief warns that reliance on fossil fuels is pushing the world to the brink
- Leon Gautier, last surviving French commando who took part in WWII D-Day landings in Normandy, dies at 100
Recommendation
-
Brianna LaPaglia Addresses Zach Bryan's Deafening Silence After Emotional Abuse Allegations
-
New species may have just been discovered in rare octopus nursery off Costa Rica
-
How decades of disinformation about fossil fuels halted U.S. climate policy
-
Love Is Blind Star Bartise Bowden Welcomes First Baby
-
Dramatic video shows Phoenix police rescue, pull man from car submerged in pool: Watch
-
Car ads in France will soon have to encourage more environmentally friendly travel
-
Merchant of Death Viktor Bout, Russian arms dealer freed in swap for Brittney Griner, is running for office
-
Kate Middleton, Prince William and Their 3 Kids Match in Blue for Easter Church Service